I was getting the exact opposite with slow speeds on the verizon mobile hotspot and fast with barnacle. Also pdanet was fast but the built-in usb tether was dog slow.
You can fix it by changing the date back to May.
I guess Samsung hard coded into the device to not work past May( when the hotspot was supposed to stop being free).
So I guess you can always have mobile hotspot if you just change your date to a time when it was free.
Yeah my battery life seems to be hit by the NoLED app. Usually when the phone is in my pocket it stays there and if i pull it out it stays on my hand so no real use for me. Yeah wonder what that 3rd little spot is on the top there.